Earlier this year, Snoop Dogg petitioned for his 1993 murder case to be sealed so he could put the past behind him once and for all.
According to Black Enterprise, a court awarded Snoop’s request in late February. The rapper filed to have his record sealed the month before, per TMZ. He had the help of Ceasar McDowell and Unite the People, a California-based nonprofit that advocates for social justice, as well as tackles mass incarceration and prison reform.
In 1993, Snoop and his security guard McKinley Lee were accused of being involved in the death of 20-year-old Philip Woldemariam, who was an alleged gang member. It’s believed that Woldemariam was in a dispute with one of Snoop’s friends.
Then, in 1996, Snoop and Lee were cleared of “first- and second-degree murder” and “conspiracy to commit assault” charges, The Los Angeles Times reported at the time.
“They made the right decision, you know what I’m saying?” Snoop said in 1996. “This has been an ordeal that has affected our lives for the past 2 1/2 years. I was just trying to figure out if I was going to be here to raise my son.”
Now that his record is sealed, the public will no longer be able to access it. Also, in these situations, defendants typically get their fingerprints, booking photos and even DNA samples returned to them, per the New York State Unified Court System.
The 1993 charges never hindered Snoop’s career as he’s been a household name since his debut album, Doggystyle, which dropped that same year. In addition to selling millions of records, he’s appeared in movies like Baby Boy and Training Day. He was recently the face of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“It’s limitations to the field that I come from,” he said in an interview with The AP News. “Rappers aren’t supposed to do this. I tend to do the unthinkable.”
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